Conveying Research to Non-Specialist Audience

Developed by the University of Queensland in 2008, the exercise
cultivates students’ academic, presentation and research
communication skills.

In the 3MT competition, graduate students convey the essence and
importance of their master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation
research in an engaging way to a non-specialist audience in just
three minutes and are limited to one PowerPoint slide.

A panel of judges determined first, second and third place
prizes, worth $1,000, $750 and $500, respectively. A People’s
Choice prize, worth $250, was awarded based on an audience
vote.

Student Aims to Demystify Science for General Public

Twum, who is mentored by Scott Abrams, PhD, in Roswell’s
Department of Immunology, won second place for her presentation
titled “Switch Cancer Off!”

She is hoping to bring science to the general public by coming
up with more exciting ways to explain complex scientific concepts
in order to demystify the mysteries that surround science and make
it more approachable to the lay person.

African Trypanosomes, Krabbe Disease Among Topics

Other medical school students who were 3MT finalists are:

Lucie Kafkova

Kafkova has been studying African trypanosomes since the
beginning of her undergraduate career. She completed her
master’s studies at the University of South Bohemia with a
degree in experimental biology and then switched her focus from RNA
editing to arginine methylation when she joined Read’s group
at UB.

Her presentation was titled “Figuring Out African
Trypanosomes One Protein at a Time.”

Nadav Weinstock

Nadav Weinstock, a fifth-year MD/PhD student, aspires to become
a physician-scientist working on developing therapies for rare
diseases that affect babies.

During his first two years of medical school, Weinstock became
interested in global health and spent time providing medical care
at local free health clinics and to underserved remote populations
in the Himalayan Mountains of India.

In 2016, he was awarded an F30 fellowship from the NIH for his
research on Krabbe Disease.

Zhang’s research has involved elucidating the relationship
between the neurochemical and behavioral effects of drugs that are
used in neuropsychiatric diseases, such as depression, anxiety and
learning and memory disabilities.